ORANGE WOMAN DIES IN PLANE CRASH

FORT LAUDERDALE -- It was to be a simple plane skip, a five-minute jump to end a Bahamas vacation for an Orange County woman, her University of Central Florida roommate and his father. But the private plane crashed soon after takeoff Wednesday, killing two of them.

"We saw him take off and then heard the engine stalling, that's why I kept watching," said Justin Brozic, who was working on a pickup truck at Hot Rod Connection's warehouse across the street from Fort Lauderdale's Executive Airport.

"Then I saw the propeller stop and he lost altitude and then it started again. He was banking to the left, like he was trying to turn it back when it went straight down, a vertical drop right into the roof of the building."

Paul Arthur Butler, 65, of Fort Lauderdale was at the controls of the single-engine aircraft when it speared the roof of an auto body shop some 500 feet from the runway about 11:30 a.m. He was killed instantly.

His son, Todd Butler, 21, and Stephanie Schambon, 19, were his passengers. Schambon, a 2002 graduate of Bishop Moore High School, was taken to Broward Medical Center where she was pronounced dead. Todd Butler was taken to North Broward Hospital where he was in critical condition late Wednesday.

Schambon would have turned 20 on Saturday. Her parents, who live in the exclusive Isleworth neighborhood near Windermere, could not be reached for comment Wednesday night. Other close relatives also were unavailable.

A former classmate at Bishop Moore described Schambon as a beautiful, popular girl who was stylish and trendy. She played on the school's girls lacrosse team.

More recently, Schambon worked at the P.F. Chang's restaurant at the Mall at Millenia as a hostess.

Todd Butler and Schambon were students at UCF, where they shared a three-bedroom house with another roommate, Kyle Massimo, 20. Massimo said his roommates had planned a weeklong trip to the Bahamas that was to end Wednesday.

Paul Butler turned 65 on Wednesday. His wife, Gale Butler, is a prominent figure in South Florida. As the communications director for such business giants from Citizens & Southern Bank, then Blockbuster Video, and as Vice-President of corporate affairs with AutoNation, she is on the boards of several of Broward County's nonprofit organizations.

Paul Butler took off in the four-seat Piper Archer from Pompano Beach Air Park early Wednesday, before the tower opened, to pick up his son and Schambon in the Bahamas. On the return trip, the three had to land at Executive Airport to clear Customs. The crash occurred as Paul Butler was attempting to return to Pompano Beach.

Miraculously, no one inside the building, Stuttgart International Auto Body Collision, was injured.

Workers Maurice and Mike Nast came running with fire extinguishers, expecting the plane to burst into flames.

"The people inside the plane were trying to move," Maurice Nast said. "I said, 'Please! Please! Don't move.' They weren't saying anything. They were in shock."

Arriving firefighters pulled the two survivors from the wreckage, said Fort Lauderdale Fire Division Chief Stephen McInerny. Medics performed CPR on Schambon as they rushed her to Broward General Medical Center, but they could not save her.

Battalion Chief Christopher Weir said there was a potential for the plane to have burst into flames after crashing into the building. The body shop had several cars inside along with paint supplies and chemicals for body work.

"Two fatalities is two too many already," he said. "We're just glad we didn't have a worse disaster."

Pilots consider the Piper Archer easy to fly, sturdy and reliable. It is a member of the popular Piper Cherokee family, which has about 20,000 various models flying, according to the Aircraft Owner and Pilots Association.